KPS loses 700 students amid pandemic

Nearly 700 students have left the Kalamazoo Public Schools district since the beginning of the pandemic. That comes out to about 5% of the previous year’s enrollment.

A drop in enrollment isn’t unusual in the state as students struggling with remote learning move to other districts, schools, and even home schooling to get the educational service they can’t get online.

Overall, about 53,000 students have left their usual schools around the state. Additionally, some parents held their kindergarten-aged children back in 2020 rather than have them start school during a tumultuous year.

KPS Deputy Superintendent Gary Start told MLive he expected enrollment to bounce back once in-person classes resume.

“I fully expect next year’s kindergarten class to be the largest kindergarten class of my career,” he said.

Superintendent Rita Raichoudhuri promised during a recent school board meeting that the 2021-22 school year would be held in person.

“I am giving the community my personal guarantee that all KPS schools will offer five days of in-person instruction in the fall of 2021,” she said.

You can read more on MLive.